It has been five years since our Managing Director Andrew Baxter acquired the business and we are in our strongest financial position ever, tracking ahead of forecast with turnover expected to reach around £200m by the end of the year.
Since 2013, the business has doubled in size and invested heavily in recruitment, equipment and IT to achieve the best financial results in our 50-year history.
Turnover for the last 12 months to June 2018 is at £155m, while underlying net profit has increased to £4.2m. The results show growth in turnover of almost £80m since 2013 and the pattern looks set to continue with the addition of the Continental Cargo Carriers business from the end of May this year and further acquisitions and expansions in the pipeline.
Europa Finance Director Rob Ross, said: “As a business we’ve made some bold decisions in the five years since the acquisition and we’re seeing these choices have far-reaching and positive impacts.
“We’ve continued the roll out of our bespoke IT system Leonardo across the four divisions which has allowed our teams to improve productivity, efficiency and handle steady growth in consignment numbers. We’ve also employed our own dedicated internal recruitment to build our teams, particularly in our road division where we’re adding 20 new Account Managers this year.”
Since the acquisition, Managing Director Andrew Baxter has achieved his goal of transforming Europa into a market leader for the distribution of goods between the UK and Europe, with the business now the largest independent freight forwarder in the country.
“We always knew Europa had the potential to become a market leader and the achievement is testament to the hard work of our teams in Road, Warehouse, Air & Sea and Showfreight, who have shared the business’ vision and maintained a consistently high level of customer service throughout this journey of change and innovation,” said Andrew.
In store for the year ahead is the strategic expansion of our branch network, the launch of new groupage lines, the integration of CCC to strengthen our part and full load offering, a further acquisition and a new building in the Warehouse division.
In addition, there are dozens of other product improvement concepts being developed.
“We have a lot going on, but all in a very careful and controlled manner. We couldn’t be more pleased with the progress we are making and we believe we have the right plan to take us forward, balancing investment in people, facilities and IT,” added Andrew.
Andrew said the team is now shifting its milestone focus to 2022 where it’s hoped we will push through the £400m turnover mark.